Page 43 of Heartless Vows

Giorgio’s arm tightens around my stomach. Although he loosened his grip on my hair, he hasn’t released me.

Shit. I’m not doing a very good job of hiding my interests if he’s caught on after only a day and a half. I’ll have to tread carefully, because if he knows what I’m truly capable of, he’ll ruin any chance I have of getting Tristan to safety.

Chapter 12

Giorgio Vivaldi

After Nico approvesAurora’s request to work on the tablet, he settles Serenity on the couch and stalks down the hall to retrieve it from their bedroom. I pull Aurora down onto the loveseat beside me.

“Do you remember what you were doing before the blue screen popped up?” Aurora asks.

“I was downloading updates on the design app my school requires for all students.”

“Did any of the other students report issues?”

“I don’t think so. The tech guy said maybe it’s because I didn’t update my tablet first, but I never saw a notification, and I always install the updates as soon as they roll out, so I don’t know.”

Aurora takes the tablet from Nico, but the creases on her forehead say she wouldn’t notice even if a monkey handed it to her. She hits the power button and reads the warning.

When she shifts as though to stand, I slip my hand around her forearm and tug her back into the seat. She gives me an annoyed glance, but goes back to fiddling with the tablet as though nothing else exists.

I shouldn’t call her cute, since some would say she’s barely legal, but she’s an intriguing mix of angelic and demonic as she ignores the rest of the world to pinpoint the issue.

When I finally pull my stare from her face, she’s scrolling through a never-ending wall of white text on a black background. Surprise widens her eyes before she scowls and leans closer to the screen.

She understands more than she lets on. Tendrils of suspicion sneak through me, so I watch and catalog her every movement, but the HTML code or whatever jargon she’s reading may as well be in hieroglyphics to me.

I can torture a man without mercy, run a business without breaking a sweat, and navigate the ruthless mafia underworld without hesitation, but I can’t do… whatever it is she’s doing.

This is more than the average ‘I was homeschooled’ or ‘I was raised on a computer’ skill set. I meet Nico Russo’s eyes. His attention sharpens as he picks up on my suspicion.

She flips and types, scans and swipes, and returns the tablet to the home screen within a few minutes.

Trained professionals take hours to work through what she just fixed. At Serenity’s excited squeal as she hands it over, Aurora smiles.

My heart skips a beat. I want her to look at me with those caring eyes and that soft expression.

“I uninstalled the design app, but everything you had saved should still be in the school’s cloud storage system. Your software is up to date, too, so maybe talk to a different technician to figure out what went wrong before you download the design app again.”

As Serenity thanks her, Nico studies Aurora, as baffled as I am over her skills. I pull her to my side and wrap my arm around behind her to grab her hip.

Her elation fades when she glances at my face.

When Nico not-so-subtly tries to kick us out again, I say goodbye to my sister and pull Aurora toward the door. She pauses in the foyer and looks over her shoulder, but turns back around and exits the suite without another word.

I consider confronting her about my suspicions but decide to wait until she’s comfortable telling me the truth, so I settle her into my car without a word and drive in silence. When she leans her shoulder against the door and sighs, I reach over the console and take her hand. Her fingers tremble as she gives me a squeeze.

Her sweetness may be the death of me.

After a few minutes, her lashes sweep down to rest against her cheeks.

Pride and awe swell within my heart. Every time she falls asleep in my presence, she steals a massive chunk of my soul.

I stop at the gate to our last destination for the day and roll down my window to talk to the guard. Aurora’s hand twitches in mine when he speaks. The man welcomes me and waves me through the gate. I pull forward and park in the posh roundabout near the front entrance.

Unable to resist, I lift Aurora’s hand to my face and brush my lips over the back.

“Wake up,mia topolina. I brought you home early, so you can go inside and rest.”

---